On Wednesday, Senator John McCain appeared on The O'Reilly Factor and was asked by Fox News host Bill O'Reilly whether immigration could "change -- pardon the pun -- the whole complexion of America." McCain responded, "You're right."

O'Reilly then asked McCain, "Do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far left want? They want to break down the white Christian male power structure of which you are part, and so am I." O'Reilly went on to insist, "You've got to cap [the number of immigrants.]" "We do, we do. I agree with you" said McCain.

Although McCain did not directly endorse O'Reilly's more extreme statements, as a blog posting at The Largest Majority, points out, "McCain doesn’t correct O’Reilly and state that maintaining white power is not a valid concern with which to base US policy on, but instead goes on to say he understands this 'legitimate fear'."

The following video is from Fox's O'Reilly Factor.

Transcript:

O'REILLY: Now on the left. The objection is there's not enough illegal aliens in here. The New York Times wants open borders. They want all the 12 million legal people who will be legalized to bring in their extended families. Not just wives and children, but moms and dads, brothers and sisters.

This would lead to in my calculation 40 and 50 foreign nationals being absorbed into the United States in the next 12, 13 years. That would sink the Republican Party, I believe, because we'd have a one-party system. And change, pardon the pun, the whole complexion of America. Am I wrong?

MCCAIN: No, you're right. The second thing that are on the left they're against is the temporary worker, as you know. We say two years go back for a year, two years, go back for a year. They don't want that. They don't want them to have to go back.

O'REILLY: But the strategy is…

MCCAIN: People can come and work.

O'REILLY: Do you understand — and I'm not saying this in a condescending way, you're smarter than I am.

MCCAIN: Sure.

O'REILLY: But do you understand…

MCCAIN: No.

O'REILLY: …what The New York Times wants and the far-left want? They want to breakdown the white Christian male power structure of which you are a part, and so am I. And they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically breakdown the structure that we have. In that regard, Pat Buchanan is right. So I say that you've got to cap it with a number.

MCCAIN: In America today, we have a very strong economy, low unemployment. So we need additional farm workers, including by the way, agriculture. But there may come a time where we have an economic downturn and we don't need so many.

O'REILLY: OK, but in this.

MCCAIN: So I think it has to vary.

O'REILLY: In this bill, you guys got to cap it.

MCCAIN: Yes.

O'REILLY: Because you're estimated there's 12 million. There may be 20.

MCCAIN: Yes.

O'REILLY: You don't know. I don't know. You got to cap it.

MCCAIN: We do. I agree with you. But I also would remind you, again, that they have to get behind everybody else who tried to apply legally. They have to pay the fines. They have to go back to the country of origin.

O'REILLY: I got all of that.

MCCAIN: They have to take a minimum of 13 years, as you know. So to call that amnesty, in my view, is a stretch.